Iraqi "independence day" arrives

Despite upsurge in violence, US says conditions for withdrawal from major cities have been met.

By Jane Arraf - GlobalPost
Published: June 30, 2009 05:34 ET
Updated: July 16, 2009 16:34 ET
Page 2 of 3

“Let’s be honest,” said Mayor Zuhair al-Araji in a meeting with the U.S. commander in Mosul last week. “How many thousands of police do we have in the city center — how many national police and soldiers and the coalition forces with all their technology and all their support ... if you pull all this logistical help, how is it all going to work?”

At another meeting with Iraqi National Police and Iraqi Army commanders, U.S. Army Col. Gary Volesky tried to figure out how they would make it work.

“I just want to make sure we all understand how we see operations on June 30 and how we can continue the relationship we have even with fewer forces in the city,” Volesky told his Iraqi counterparts, who responded that they still needed U.S. help.

Apart from the helicopters, medivac facilities and ability to clear roadside bombs, what the Iraqi forces need the Americans for is essential but largely invisible to most Iraqis — logistical, intelligence and surveillance help.

The restrictions, a political inevitability, are expected to make it harder for the U.S. to help the Iraqis.

Under the new rules, the U.S. forces will need not only Iraqi permission but Iraqi escorts for any movement. This includes undertaking the reconstruction projects the U.S. military had begun in many places.

All of that requires detailed coordination that hasn’t exactly been an Iraqi military trait, and relies heavily on the relationships built up between commanders at every level.

“If you’ve got a combative relationship with your counterparts you’re not going to get information and you’re probably not going to give information,” said Volesky, whose own relationships with his Iraqi counterparts involve varying degrees of trust — strongest with the Iraqi Army and perhaps the lowest with local police.

An ongoing investigation is still trying to determine how two men who were either Iraqi police or dressed as policemen opened fire in Mosul and killed a U.S. soldier and his interpreter in February.

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Posted by ren on June 30, 2009 10:16 ET

What a mess...unfortunately, many more lives will be lost. I hope this is the right step and it doesn't put Americans or Iraqis in more danger...but how could it not?

Are there any other countries that will have "security stations" in Iraq?

I guess we have to start some where.

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